Wake up. Colin has said it all. What does it say exactly?
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Wow, that’s some record, well done.
If the current bad tenant doesn’t leave on the date of the 'Possession Order", get the bailiffs under a warrant of entry, assisted by the police if necessary, with a violent tenant.
You should report him to the police if he was threatening, and especially if there was any physical contact. It is even a criminal offence to raise your hand / fist in a threatening manner.
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We have had an awful 2 years trying to evict tenants. We have finally got the bailiffs eviction papers and date but they have just left. They owe rent and have caused much damage to our property which we will hopefully claim back via the courts.
The thing is, we have now found out they have rented another property on Open Rent and I feel so sorry for the landlord as I am sure they will do the same thing to him. Why do Open Rent not seek previous landlord referencing?
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Very good question, one I fear will go unanswered.
A few reasons I expect. It can take a lot of effort to get in touch with previous landlord and relies on them being responsive. I’ve found estate agents are generally quite forthcoming though. Also, if it’s the current landlord I wouldn’t trust a reference as there’s not a chance they will describe them as a problem tenant if they want rid. If you still had them sitting and a new landlord asked you if they were great tenants what would you say?
The best reference is the landlord before the current one.
There needs to be a problem tenant register.
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The law will never allow a bad tenant register unfortunately.
Tenants are overprotected by the law as I’ve found out to my detriment.
I attempted to contact Open Rent customer service to try and get a message to their new landlord (I’d seen the advert for the property) to give him the heads up but customer service want every single bit of detail from me before even attempting to help. Surprised they didn’t ask for my DNA.
I would’ve thought they too, would liked to have prevented a possible (and likely) situation to protect the landlord. 
I’m a very strong person and it’s pushed me to the upper limit, mental health wise. I’d hate to think what it could do to someone who isn’t so mentally strong.
They should at the very least pass on what you have said to the new landlord. I can’t see this as being in breach of gdpr.
There could be a privately run bad tenant database. I know there’s been a few attempts over the years but they never get much traction. Hardest thing is validating the claims and making people aware of it exists to begin with.
Out of interest how did you find out what property your old tenants went to? My last tenant wouldn’t give a forwarding address, it would be quite rare I would have thought to know where they ended up.
The stress of a problem tenant can be terrible, and as you have said some people would really struggle to cope. I am pretty resilient myself but it still takes it’s toll.
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A pure coincidence. A work colleague was telling me about her new neighbours and it hit home. A quick search online for that address and saw the property had been rented through Open Rent. They have moved locally, which I expected too.
I probably would’ve refused to give a reference if it had been asked of me, due to everything that has gone on. Then again, I’d be stuck with them if that landlord had seen through that so I do understand the complications.
We just got rid of a bad tenant who paid a month’s rent in July last year and nothing since. He rented the flat to people who worked for him, quite possibly illegal immigrants, who sold drugs from the flat. It took 10 months to get him/his sub-tenants out via the correct legal route during which time we had no income, were paying the mortgage and legal fees and constantly stressed. He made over £10k in tax-free income in this time and there are no repercussions for him. The place was thankfully not trashed but it was filthy beyond belief and full of garbage. That is just one example of a bad tenant.
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Having managed to get extremely “interesting” tenants out of our property without having to resort to eviction, I watched their car turn the corner and shouted YES! and the neighbours came out and applauded. My finest moment in Landlording.
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I had a problem tenant who gave a fault forwarding address, shortly after, the police came to the house looking for the tenant. The neighbours had advised me that the police had been around a few times, I was there clearing up the mess one day when the police came. I invited them in to see that the place was vacant and decided that despite everything, maybe I’d actually had a close call and that at least the tenant had left the property without the need for eviction.
I’m sure most tenant don’t have such extreme reasons for not giving a forwarding address, but maybe the problem tenants do!
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Totally agree with the gents above, wish there was a BAD tenant forum:point_up:t3:
Same as you 4 months behind, goes missing and no contact or dialogue….
Started well for a year or so then broke down and when they were told after a inspection. They had caused a lot of damage……
Well that was it, stopped paying and no contact….then came a truck load of accusations without any merit and it all got personal……
Caused me a few tears to say the least and your right it’s caused us a lot of upset with no thought of what they are doing and how it effects the person they are renting from.
This is business and I get that but when you find out the law is SOOO in the tenants camp……
Needs addressing, as it’s a chain of events after their selfishness….
Ground rent-mortgage-maintenance-insurance/ time etc etc
Had my rants !
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why not esp when landlord list is maintained. some councils do accredited landlord list
open rent should provide the ability to rate tenants and put up warnings
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Unfortunately, I can’t see this ever happening.
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